Come Find Me
by osjejnik
Summary: Takaba has been taken, will Asami reach him in time?
1. Chapter 1

Update: Hello! This is my first attempt at publishing a fanfiction, hope you like it!

Also a few short notes:  
I do not own any characters yet, they are from Amano Yamane's Viewfinder series.  
English is not my first language, feel free to tell me if I've made any mistakes!  
(I will probably keep the author's notes to a minimum. Or maybe not. As I said, this is my first fanfiction, I'm kind of learning as I go.)

Enough rambling, please enjoy the first chapter!

* * *

 **Chapter 1**

Takaba gave up fighting the urge to throw up and emptied his stomach contents all over the cold floor he had grown so accustomed to in the last few minutes. His hand spasmed when he made to wipe his mouth, but it could not fight the bonds that kept his armes secured behind his back.

A coarse piece of cloth tightly tied across his eyes left him unable to see, but not to remember.

Oh, right, he thought to himself. The bastards tied me up and left me here. I've been tied up and locked away. Again. Fuck.

A few hours or days or possibly weeks earlier the young photographer namned Takaba Akihito had been strolling down the sunny streets of Tokyo together with his friends Kou and Takato, looking for something to distract them from the heatwaves rolling in over the city. They had just been about to enter a small, air conditioned café in the outskirts of the city centre when someonen had pulled a bag over Takabas face and something hit him in the head hard enough for him to pass out.

Back in the cold room Takaba moved as far away as possible (mostly crawling and rolling since his legs were also bound) from the smelly pool of vomit and tugged at his bonds. They didn't feel like ropes, chains or cuffs (all of those he was well accustomed to thanks to a certain perverted yakuza), but rather like some tightly fitted plastic straps that cut into his flesh. Zip ties? Whatever they were, they were effective.

"At least it's cool in here," Takaba muttered to himself sardonically.

He hoped his two friends were all right, or at least better off than he was. The dizzines didn't seem to want to let up, and the throbbing in the back of his head reminded him of the blow he had recieved. Hopefully his blindness was not due to that but to the blindfold. In any case the fact that his head was still throbbing should mean that the time passed should be in the hours, not days.

Dammit, where had his body guards been at when he was abducted? The one time he actually would have liked his lover's stalking tendencies to make themselves useful they seemed to have evaded the yakuza. Wait a minute, did that mean that Asami didn't know about Takaba being taken? Where did that leave him and his chances of escape?

Of course, Kou and Takato, his confused mind suddenly remembered. They'd have gone to the police. Asami would have found him quicker, but the police were better than nothing. Also, Asami probably owned a few sets of ears and eyes in the force.

Unless, an uninvited voice inside Takabas head whispered, unless your friends were taken as well. Or killed.

Not wanting to think about that more than necessary Takaba once again shifted his focus to his own situation, trying to make sense of what had happened. This whole thing probably had to do with Asami, right? Sure, the photographer had a few enemies of his own due to his line of work, but he had a hard time thinking of one that would go this far. No, it had to be someone's way of getting to the yakuza boss, that was the only thing that could make any sense at all.

God, he really didn't feel well. Was this weak and dizzy feeling only a consequence of the blow to his head or had they drugged him as well? He had a feeling he would find the answer to at least some of his questions sooner rather than later as he suddenly heard a loud clanking noise, like a key being turned in an old door's lock. Someone was coming.


	2. Chapter 2

(I know I said I wasn't gonna write a lot of author's notes, but I just wanted to say thank you for reading and reviewing!  
Hope you like the new chapter.)

* * *

 **Chapter 2**

"Phew! Man, it stinks in here," a voice exclaimed rather amusedly. His Japanese had a strange accent Takaba had never heard before. The photographer was suddenly acutely aware that a string of puke was slowly drying on his chin. Humiliation seared in his stomach. Footsteps from more than one pair of shoes entered the room and circled the photographer, from the sound of it. One pair stopped right next to Takaba's head, and their owner crouched down to remove his blindfold.

The sharp light made his suddenly exposed eyes start to tear up and Takaba blinked furiously. He thought he could see the blurry outlines of at least four large men. After a few seconds his sight had adjusted well enough for the face belonging to the man closest to him to emerge. He was a foreigner, probably European or American, judging by his light brown hair and greyish eyes. His features were quite handsome in a brutish kind of way, and his body was larger than that of Asami's biggest bodyguard.

With his lips curved into a cruel smirk the man grabbed ahold of Takaba's bangs and forced his head up. Tears started to well up in Takaba's eyes once again, this time from the pain of getting his hair pulled. In an attempt to relieve some of the pain he raised his upper body from the floor slightly.

Inspecting his prey the man started to snicker quietly.

"They told me you were Asami's hooker, but no one told me you were such a looker."

He laughed heartily at his own semantic cleverness, as did the men behind him. Against his will Takaba felt his cheeks growing red hot. What a freaking asshole.

"Wh – who are 'they'?" he stuttered, trying to hide his feelings of being shamed but failing. "Who are you? Why did you bring me here?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" the man smiled. He released his grip on Takaba's hair and the boy fell to the floor again, scraping his shoulder on a surface that, free of his blindfold, he now saw looked like concrete. The whole room looked like it was made of concrete, or possibly dry walls. It was empty, cold, grey and unfriendly. Well, empty except from the five gigantic men laughing at him.

"Actually yes, I really would like to know that," he continued fearlessly. He refused to let the strangers win. "Who are you and what did you do to my friends? If you hurt them I'll kill you assholes!"

"Spunky, isn't he?" someone in the background whispered to his neighbor loud enough for the whole room to hear. Takaba half expected the man crouching next to him to punish his subordinate for his insolence but to his surprise the man didn't seem to mind at all.

"Indeed he is, just like they said," he simply stated.

"Where are my friends?" Takaba relented. If nothing else he at least wanted an answer to that. The man's face suddenly turned serious, as if he'd gotten tired of the charade. He locked his grey eyes on Takaba's brown ones for a moment before getting to his feet.

"I can't focus in this stench."

He promptly turned on his heel and marched out of the room, shouting orders in a language that Takaba thought made him sound like he was singing. He couldn't make out a single word he understood, but it didn't sound like English.

Two of the men followed their boss, chatting with each other in that same language. The other two lifted the struggling Takaba from the floor – one of them holding his legs and the other one grabbing him under his armpits – and carried him out of the room and into a corridor lit with fluorescent lamps. A metal staircase was right next to the room where Takaba had been held. That combined with the lack of windows led him to think he was in some kind of a basement. Okay, so screaming probably wouldn't get him very far.

That didn't stop him from trying, though.

"HEELP ME! CAN SOMEONE HEAR ME? PLEASE HELP!"

The men carrying him made no attempt to muffle his voice. Apparently they were confident no one would hear him anyway. Crap, he was really in trouble this time. This was worse than being brought to Hong Kong against his will, worse than being drugged by the girl he was looking for and tied to a lifting crane in a warehouse, because as much as both of those episodes of his life had sucked ass, at least he had known who had done those things to him and why. This time he was completely clueless and he had no idea how to get himself out of this mess. Or what had gotten him into it in the first place.

Fuck fuck fuck. Am I really going to die this time? He desperately kept shouting at the top of his lungs, knowing it would probably do him no good, while the men came to a halt outside a metal door at the other end of the corridor. The guy carrying Takaba's feet let him down carefully, if not gently, and opened the door, revealing a square room with tiled floor and walls, a foldable metal chair in the middle of the floor and a rubber garden hose connected to a pipe that crawled along one of the walls. The pipe was equipped with several taps and under the chair was a floor drain. A single light bulb hanging from the roof lit up the room.

The men sat Takaba down on the chair and tied a rope several loops around his torso and the back of the chair. They then released his legs temporarily, only to secure them to the chair's legs with duct tape before Takaba even had the chance to start kicking.

"Let me go you bastards! What are you going to do to me? Where are my friends?"

The men looked at each other, then shrugged and stepped away from the photographer, who could not have been any more unable to move from the chair. He felt his pulse rise from fear by the minute, and his shoulder joints were beginning to hurt from having his arms tied behind his back for so long. Also, he needed to pee really bad.

The man who had held on to Takaba's legs earlier lifted the hose from the floor. His hair was so blond it was almost white while the other was completely bald (although he did sport a magnificent black beard), other than that Takaba had trouble distinguishing the men from each other.

I guess I'll just call them Blondie and Beardie, he decided. Giving his captors nicknames somehow made the gravity of his situation seem less real.

Blondie pointed the hose at Takaba while Beardie started to loosen one of the taps.

Oh shit, I see where this is going, was Takaba's last thought before he was suddenly covered in a hard spray of icy cold water which soaked his hair, t-shirt and his jeans. Hell, probably his underwear too. The shower stopped and, gasping from the sudden coldness, he tried to blink the water from his eyes and shake it out of his ears. From what sounded like miles away he heard footsteps removing themselves and the door closing. A key turned in the lock.

He was alone again. For now.


	3. Chapter 3

(So sorry about the chapter being messed up! This apparently happens when I copy and paste the text from Word. Thanks for alerting me!

Here's the fixed chapter:) (And fixed once again since I realized I happened to delete a sentence.)

* * *

 **Chapter 3**

Takaba let out a stifled moan as he reached his third climax that night. Completely spent he lay panting in the ridiculously large bed, feeling the weight of his substantially larger lover roll off him, the mattress bouncing slightly as Asami landed on his back next to him.

"Need me to get you a drink?" the yakuza asked, showing the kind of affection he almost only showed Takaba in bed.

"If I wanted one I could get it myself," Takaba muttered sleepily. He knew he wouldn't move and inch in at least an hour.

"I highly doubt that, Akihito," Asami smirked. He reached for his pack of cigarettes and lit one.

Takaba Akihito didn't even bother answering but slowly drifted off to sleep, shivering from exhaustion.

* * *

He woke up shivering from a completely different reason. The warmth from the imaginary bed he had just lain in was gone. The bedroom he shared with Asami in his expensive penthouse had transformed into an empty room lined with white tiles and lit by a lonely but bright light bulb hanging from the roof by a cord.

He was colder than he had ever been in his life, including that one time he fell asleep one the sidewalk after having had one too many beers celebrating New Year's. At least that time he had been wearing a warm down jacket. Now he was dressed in a t-shirt and jeans, and they were soaked in freezing cold water, which was also still dripping from his hair.

Man, his tied up arms really hurt. So did his throat. It was raw from the cold and from having shouted so much earlier.

The hell do they want with me? he thought. And how was it that Asami hadn't come to find him yet? Could it really be that he didn't know about Takaba's situation? The not knowing was slowly driving Takaba insane. He also desperately wanted to make sure his friends were all right. If they had been hurt because of him he'd never forgive himself.

He tried to distract himself from his thoughts by focusing on trying to find out as much as he could about his present environment. There wasn't much. All he could see were the white tiles on the wall in front of him, and the door through which he had been brought into the room. Not much noise was to be heard. The heavy door effectively shut out all outside noise, and the only thing in the room that made any kind of sound was a very faint electrical buzzing from the light bulb, his own shivering breaths and his stomach rumbling. When was the last time he had eaten? Was it the bowl of ramen noodles he had had for lunch with his friends? How many hours ago had that been?

His stomach let out a squeakily creaking sound, and he could almost feel which way inside his body the sound was taking, it left sort of an imprint. God, he hoped they'd feed him soon.

 _They_.

That big dude had said "they" a few times. Takaba wondered who he had referred to. Some organization? Some yakuza group? A book club? "They" were obviously well informed enough to know about his affiliation with Asami, and resourceful enough to abduct and incarcerate Takaba.

Not a book club then, he thought, trying to lighten up his mood and failing miserably.

Why did he always end up in these kinds of messes? Who were these people and what gave them the right to lock him up like this and spray water all over his dignity? Takaba Akihito felt the fear from before melting away to give room for anger. No way was he going to keep playing their game, allowing them the satisfaction of seeing his frightened eyes. No, from this point on no matter what they did to him he would not allow himself to be scared. They could hurt him, rape him, kill him. He would not yield to them no matter what.

Feeling slightly more proud and dignified Akihito managed to face his kidnappers without averting his gaze when they entered the room what felt like hours later. His hair was mostly dry by now and his arms and shoulder joints were really killing him. But that pain came in handy when trying to muster enough courage to face his captors.

All five men from before entered the room, last came the man who appeared to be the leader.

"You look more presentable now, Aki-chan," he said, looking down on Takaba's tied up self.

"How do you know my name, asshole?" Takaba retorted. The leader and two of the men snickered while the other two remained impassive. They were the ones who had carried him into this damned room. Did they perhaps not speak Japanese?

The man stood in front of Takaba, still smiling. Then the smile drained from his face and he hit Takaba's cheek hard with his clenched right fist. The punch was hard enough to make Takaba's head turn and to make his mouth taste like blood. He gasped from the pain but managed not to scream.

"If we're going to call each other by names from now on I might as well tell you my real one," the man said unexpectedly. "But first I need to ask you a few questions and I need you to tell me the truth, to save us both some trouble."

"What kinds of questions?" Takaba wondered cautiously.

"The kinds of questions concerning Asami Ryuichi, of course," the man said. He was smiling again and leaning over so that his eyes were on level with Takaba's. "Oh, and some of the questions we already know the answer to, we just want to make sure you're not lying." Those cold grey eyes. It was like staring into an emotionless rock, or the merciless steel of a sword's blade. Takaba swallowed.

"I won't lie," he said. Then he spat his bloodstained saliva at the man – it hit him on the left cheek, right about the same place where moments before his fist had landed on Akihito's.

"I won't lie," Akihito repeated. "Because I won't answer any of your questions."

"Well, that's too bad for you," the man said. His eyes had started to gleam as he wiped the spittle off his face. "But I can assure you we will all have a great time getting you to change your mind."

Without breaking eye contact the man gave a few short orders in that foreign singing language Takaba had heard him speak before. Had he heard it during different circumstances it might have sounded beautiful, but now all it did was make him feel like puking again.

One of the men in the background exited the room and returned a few moments later with a smallish expensive looking suitcase.

Shit. I have a really bad feeling about this, Takaba thought.

Aloud he said, "Before you get started, I really need to use the bathroom."


	4. Chapter 4

(Maybe spoiler alert in case you have not read chap 52 and forward, but nothing that major I hope, I'm keeping it vague so that I don't mess upp the storyline too much as well.)

* * *

 **Chapter 4**

Asami quietly entered the hotel suite in the middle of the night. He did not turn on the lights, not wanting to wake up Akihito in case he was sleeping. The boy needed his sleep after what had happened in their previous apartment had left him with enough nightmares to keep him up almost every night since. But tonight he seemed to be sleeping silently.

While they waited for Kirishima to finish refurnishing their new apartment, Asami and Akihito had stayed in this ludicrously expensive hotel suite. Their old place was being reconstructed and Asami would have preferred returning to live there instead of getting used to a new home, but he knew Akihito would probably never feel safe there again. So they were waiting for the chance to move.

But the suite was not so bad for the moment.

Still quiet the yakuza got out of his suit, hung it up neatly on a hanger by the mirror and, naked, he slipped in under the covers, expecting the bed to be nicely warmed by his young lover but insted finding it empty and cold. That made him slightly disappointed but not all that surprised. Akihito was a journalist after all, his work was not exactly limited to the usual office hours. He was probably out on the job somewhere. That was a good thing, it meant he was getting back to his old self.

Without reflecting further Asami drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Some distance away, Takaba Akihito was pretty sure he would never sleep again in his life, mostly because he didn't think he would live long enough.

The grey eyed man had pulled up a chair of his own from somewhere and sat down in front of Akihito.

"Well, Akihito, I think it's time we got to know each other," the man said. "My name is Edevart, and where I come from we like to keep to a first-name basis. You can even call me Eddy if you want and I'll just stick with Aki-chan."

The name sounded strange to Akihito's ears, but at least now he knew something about the bastard. Assuming it wasn't something the guy had made up at the spot which seemed as likely as anything. In any case he resisted "Eddy's" mocking attempt at bondingt by turning his head slightly and staring into the wall to his left.

Eddy got up and placed the briefcase on the seat of his chair. He unclasped the clasps one by one, then slowly opened the lid. Akihito felt seriously reluctant to see the contents of the bag, but finally his fearful curiousity got the better of him and he turned his gaze back to the chair in front of him. In his mind he had pictured numerous devices for torture sticking out of the briefcase, but the only things staring back at him were a small gun and two expensive looking Japanese kitchen knives, one small paring knife and one large chef knife.

A hard knot formed inside his gut. In that moment he decided that he was prepared for pain, but not for death after all.

"Let's start with an easy question, shall we?" Edevart "Eddy" Asshole, as Takaba had named him in his mind, asked as he with slow and deliberate movements removed the maroon knitted sweater he was wearing, leaving him dressed in black and grey cargo pants and a snuggly fitting black t-shirt. The rest of the men wore similar outfits but with some variation in colour.

"First question," Eddy resumed, "where does Asami live at the moment?"

"In a forest cave with Internet access," Akihito said. It wasn't a very witty response, he had to admit, but it was the first thing he could come up with. Eddy smirked.

"I could tell before that you've got some spunk in you, kid." He once again said something unintelligible to one of his men in that singing language. Beardie removed himself from his position next to the door and picked up the paring knife from the case on the chair. Even though it was a small blade, it looked deadly enough. Beardie walked up to Akihito's chair and grabbed a large chunk of the boy's hair, forcing his head back. The pull was so hard Akihito could feel more than a few strands of hair being pulled out and his eyes watering.

He's going to take an eye or something, the photographer thought and thus proceeded to close his eyelids as tightly as he could. He was more than surprised when the smallish giant instead with one swift motion cut the lock of hair from Takaba's head, and then proceeded to cut off the rest of his well maintained hair.

"Oi! What the hell is this?" Akihito yelled. He dared not move his head for fear of getting hurt by the knife wielded by the less than gentle bearded man.

"Your pretty boy appearance was bothering me," Eddie said cruelly. "I wonder if Asami will still like you when he sees you after we're done with you." He laughed coldly and the men in the room imitated him. Against his will Akihito could feel the shame in the form of a blush creeping up on his neck and cheeks. They were trying to humiliate him, and, at least a little, they had succeeded.

Eddy watched Beardie finish his handywork, then he repeated his earlier question.

"I won't let you off as easy if you refuse to answer this time," he warned his prisoner. A lump rose in Akihito's throat.

"He's not living in his penthouse," he tried tentatively. Eddy showed no reaction, obviously not satisfied with his answer. Shit shit shit. He wouldn't last an hour like this. Should he just spill it? Asami was always well guarded, and he always had an escape plan. Even if they knew his location, Akihito doubted that Eddy and his entourage would be able to get to his lover. "He's living in T Hotel while the place is being remodeled," he admitted at last, hating himself with each word but still certain the yakuza would somehow still be safe.

Eddy took a few steps and landed right in front of Akihito. He reached out with one of his hands towards Akihito's face, which made the boy flinch slightly. But he wasn't hit again, Eddy simply grabbed his chin surprisingly gently and lifted his face so that their eyes met. Then Eddy playfully pinched Akihito's nose, jerking it a little and making comforting noises one would make at a baby.

"There's a good boy, see how easy it is when you cooperate," he said almost affectionately. "Look here, don't feel bad about it, I told you we aldready know the answer to some of the questions. We have known for some weeks where Asami's been cooped up with his precious little boytoy."

Akihito felt utterly stupid and defeated. In this round. The next one he would win.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

"The next question will be a bit harder," Eddy said without releasing his hold on Akihito's nose, instead pinching it and forcing the boy to breath through his mouth. "Maybe we know the answer, maybe we don't. But if I were you I would talk and not take the chance."

Akihito tried to break free from the gigantic man's grip but only ended up hurting his nose, the fingers did not budge. He did not want the guy so close to him, his fingers on Takaba's face felt disgusting, like someone touching him after not having washed their hands for a month. His slow, even breath felt even more disgusting, as if the air that came out of his lungs came in the form of poisonous gas.

"Aside from your dirty little self, what are Asami's weaknesses?"

If his nostrils weren't pinched together Akihito would have snorted. "I'b dot a weakdess. He does't care dat much aboud be."

"Don't play stupid, little boy, the way that scary mobster comes flying every time you're in trouble so it's obvious he cares."

"Den why are't you afraid he'll cobe here?" Takaba tried avoiding the question with one of his own but Eddy just smiled at him and pinched harder. Akihito whimpered as he felt and artery in his nose pop and a trickle of blood run down his upper lip and into his open mouth gasping for air. The blood had a salty taste.

"That's not something you have to worry your pretty little head about," Eddy said. "Now hurry up and tell me his weaknesses."

* * *

Asami woke up to a bed that was still empty. Takaba Akihito had not come home this night. He would probably stumble in any moment, though, crawl up in the hotel suite's sofa and watch TV until he fell asleep with some kind of food sticking out of his mouth. Asami smirked at the mental image. Then he got dressed and left for work without eating any of the breakfast provided by the hotel. He would have something at the office instead.

Sitting in the back seat of the car on his wa to work the mob boss scrutinized his cell phone for any missed messages from his lover. There were none. A slight shiver of worry stirred up somwhere inside the yakuza - usually Akihito would make sure Asami knew he did not need to worry about him. That was one of his ways of making sure a bodyguard would not be put on his trail. It was also a testimony to the boy's thoughtful nature.

The tiniest crease appeared in between Asami's sculpted eyebrows as he locked his phone and slid it back in the breast pocket of his suit jacket.

"Kirishima," he addressed his secretary and driver.

"Hai, Asami-sama," the man replied, meeting his boss's eyes in the rearview mirror.

"Have one of my men find Akihito. Discreetly."

"Of course, Asami-sama."

His concerns were probably superfluous, but he still wanted to make sure. Satisfied for the moment, Asami opened today's newspaper and began his work day before even reaching the office.

* * *

Asami's weaknesses... Akihito couldn't really think of one even if he wanted to. And he didn't try to hard either seeing as he had just decided not to give in to the bastard's threats again. Perhaps Eddy took his silence as a sign of resistance, or perhaps he just wanted to give Akihito some incentive to think harder. Without letting go of the nose he went and stood behind Akihito, barking orders, and one of the two men Akihito had not named yet picked up the hose from the floor and neared it to Akihito's mouth. Seeing where this was going the photographer clenched his lips closed but the lack of oxygen soon forced him to open his mouth. The man took the opportunity to force the hose in between his teeth.

Blondie slowly turned the tap that started the flow of water. Akihito felt his eyes widen in panic as he pictured the water making it's way up the long rubber hose.

"You still have time to avoid being drowned," Eddy said. "We'll start with one weakness and go from there."

Akihito gagged and coughed and gagged again as the cough made the hose tickle the ceiling of his mouth. Then he felt the first drops of water running down his throat. Although it was beyond uncomfortable and gross ut wasn't so much water that he was not able to swallow it though. But then he heard the squeaking noise as the tap was opened wider and within seconds the flow of water increased immensley.

He was drowning and choking, not being able to breath through either his mouth or his nose, water slowly filling his entire gut. His vision blurred and then became blotted with dark spots. The panic intensified, this was it, he was going to die, oh my god, please just end it, just stad me shoot me kill me, anything but this.

Then the hose was removed and his nose was released and he was able to cough and breathe and then to vomit water all over his knee and the floor beneath him.

"Man, we hardly manage to clean you up before you get yourself dirty again," Eddy sighed, which Akihito found profoundly unfair.

Just who is it that's making me dirty myself, you prick? he thought angrily but did not speak since he did not trust his voice at the moment.

"His pants are soiled. Let's remove them."

* * *

Takato and Kou came to almost at the same moment and the both at up and looked around confusedly. Where the hell were they and how had they ended up there and why did both of their heads hurt?

As his double vision slowly melted into a single image and he was able to focus his view once more, Takato guessed they were in some kind of industrial locale or a warehouse. It was large and filled with dust, containers and wooden boxes. He sat up careful not to move his throbbing head more than necessary. The dust that stirred up by his motion made him sneeze. Next to him, Kou sat up as well.

"Ne," Kou said, feeling rather queasy. "Where the hell are we?"

"I don't know," Takato replied. "How did we even get here?"

"No clue. I can't even think, my head hurts too much."

"Yeah, mine too. That's weird."

"Maybe it was something we ate?" Kou suggested. That might explain the headaches but not their location, Takato thought. He also felt like they were forgetting something important.

It hit him the second he heard Kou's sharp intake of breath. With one voice, they both exclaimed,

"Akihito!"

* * *

(Author's notes: Hello guys! Thank you all for reading and following and reviewing. And also thank you for sending PMs about my grammar mistakes and such, I really appreciate it! Hugs to all of you, please keep telling me what you think of this story, I'll update as soon as I have the time.)


	6. Chapter 6

"Asami-sama?"

The voice coming from the doorway to his office distracted the yakuza boss from his work and made him tear his eyes from his laptop screen. At least that was how it looked when in reality he had hardly been able to concentrate on his work at all the whole day and in fact, his secretary only provided him with a welcome disruption.

"Yes, Kirishima? Have you located Akihito?"

"No, sir, not yet, but..."

"What is it?"

"I spoke to our contact in the police department, and it seems Takaba-sama's two friends Kou-san and Takato-san just contacted them claming to having been abducted."

Asami had a feeling he knew where this was going, but he asked anyway:

"And how is this relevant?"

"Well, sir, they said their friend, who was with them, is missing. The name and description is a match for Takaba-sama."

Even though he gave no outside indication of this, Asami felt a sharb jab in his gut. So there had been reason to worry after all.

* * *

Akihito was naked. Well, as good as naked at least. One of the large men had used the biggest of the knives to cut him out of his clothes, leaving only his underwear. And since he had been anything but careful with his handiwork he had left the boy covered in shallow but stinging slashes. Akihito could feel the pain intensifying on the inside of both of his thighs as well as across his chest where the cuts were the deepest.

The man had also cut him free from most of his restraints, only the zip tie that held his hands together remained. Still, Akihito made no attempt to rise from the chair. He would have loved to, if only to show some kind of resistance towards Eddy the Asshole, but he simply had no strenght left at the moment. Also, Eddy had left the room again, so the gesture would not only have been empty but also completely pointless. Before he left Eddy had given some more instructions to his men who now lifted Akihito from the chair and threw him on the floor where they proceeded to take turns in kicking the shit out of him with their boot clad giant feet.

If Akihito had not been distracted by the sudden onset of screaming pain he would have noticed that they at least avoided his head and chest and kicked him hardest at his legs and arms. One foot hit his shoulder, and another the left side of his stomach, but mostly they focused on the lower part of his body. Then one kick hit him right in the crotch, and the pain was enough to dispel any other ache his body might have felt. Until then he had mostly grunted when hie was hit, but now he gave a agonized scream.

At some point the assault stopped, but Akithio was hardly aware as he felt like he was watching the world through a fog of hurt which made everything except from his agony seem very distant. His vision was both blurred and double.

It was a long time before he could see properly again. By that time the pain had retreated somewhat, although he felt sore down to his bones when he tried to move his limbs. He was also very cold. At least nothing seemed to be broken. Another long while passed before the boy realized the room was empty and that this might be his chance to escape. Not until he used them to push himself off the floor did he notice his hands were no longer tied behind his back. A deep, bloodless gash was embedded across his bruised wrists, but he could move his arms again.

One step at a time he got closer to the door and simultaneously felt life returning to his mangled body. He did not even stop to think about the possibility of the door being locked. It wasn't. Akihito bolted from the room and into the flourescently lit corridor.

* * *

Kou and Takato both tried to find comfortable positions on the hard chairs in the interrogation room at the police station. Their testimonies had been taken over and over for close to an hour, and then they had been given a quick medical check up. After they had both been cleared of the suspicion of having a concussion they were told to wait for a secretary to come with paperwork that would allow them to be released.

"How long has it been do you think?" Kou asked Takato.

"I don't know, thirty minutes? An hour? It feels like a week, though."

"Man, I'm seriously worried about Akihito."

"Yeah, me too. He sure does have a knack for getting in trouble, doesn't he?"

Kou's response was cut off by someone entering the room. This someone did not, however, look like a secretary of any kind. His neat suit and expensive looking glasses made him look more like a mobster. But for some reason he also looked slightly familiar.

"My name is Kirishima," he greeted them. "I work for a very important man, and he would like a word with the two of you, if you would please come with me."

The two boys exchanged worried glances.

* * *

Was this really happening? Was it really going to be this easy to escape after all the crap he had had to go through? Akihito could hardly belive it as he scrambled up the metal stairs on his numb, shoeless feet. He didn't even care about being as good as naked - if someone saw him and called the police then that would only be a good thing.

The entire stairwell seemed to be windowless and so Akihito had no idea which floor he was on when he reached the first landing. With an upward glance he decided that all in all there were more than five floors above him. There was a door right in front of him. Please god let it lead to the outside and let the outside be somewhere close to the city. As he raised his hand towards the door handle he was suddenly thrown slightly off balance, as if the very ground had shifted beneath his feet.

That's weird, he thought. It didn't feel like an earthquake, more like a moving floor in a fun house at a theme park. Maybe it was just some after shock from his most (very) recent traumatic experience. He tried to shrug it off and gingerly pressed the door handle. The door opened. It led to a new metal corridor, but at least this one had windows, Akihito noticed. The fear of getting caught prevented him from looking out through any of them, though, until he got to the very last one at the end of the corridor. After all, he had to know what was awaiting him out there.

All he could see as he peered out of the small round window was water. The ocean. Blue and still and endless. For a moment he forgot about the possibility that his captors might be chasing him. He forgot about the cold and the pain and just stared at the vast beauty of that blue water. Then he snapped out of it and began plotting his escape more carefully. If the warehouse where he was being hels was near the ocean, then maybe they were near a harbor or something like it. Then surely someone would be able to help him get home.

With his spirits lifted even more he opened the door only to find himself before a huge deck. And not a veranda like deck. It was a ship's deck.

He wasn't near the water. He was _on_ the freaking water. He was on a boat.

Now he knew why Eddie had been so calm earlier. Asami would never be able to find him.

* * *

Author's note: Wow, I'm so sorry it's been so long - school's been super busy, even though I know that's a lame excuse. Thanks for sticking with the story and for the reviews and follows, hope you liked the new chapter.


	7. Chapter 7

(Author's note: I love you all for your kind comments, they really make me want to keep going with this story, so thank you!)

* * *

 **Chapter 7**

For a minute or two Akihito did nothing but stare emptily straight ahead at the mockingly beautiful water. Then he spent another minute contemplating whether or not it might be better for him to just let it all go and jump over the fence surrounding the deck, taking his chanses with the water, which was likely much colder and harder than it looked. Still, it might be a more pleasant experience freezing to death than remaining on the boat att Eddie the Asshole's mercy.

That much he had figured out. He was completely at the gigantic man's mercy. There was no longer any chance of escape, and in all likelihood that man was also in control of this ship. Man, he really had no luck. And the worst part was still, Akihito thought, that he still had no idea why he was here. Would they really go through all the trouble of bringing him on a freaking cargo ship (because it looked nothing like a cruiser, far from as luxorious as Fei Long's floating casino had been) just to get information on Asami from him? Information he probably didn't even possess?

No, there had to be something more to this.

God dammit. Why did he chose to love a yakuza boss again? For a very short measurement of time Akihito wished he had never met the cause for all of this. Then the thought of Asami's warm embrace, his skin against Akihito's, made the young photographer forget everything else, even the stabbing pain that attacked every body part.

* * *

Kirishima discreetly led Takaba's two friends out the back door of the police station and ushered them into a black limousine. Their eyes went wide as they saw the expensive looking interior of the car and the impeccably dressed driver already in place in the front seat. Kirishima got into the car's passenger's seat and they puuled out onto the road, the roar from the engine slightly muffled from the inside of the car. The secretary refrained from putting up the screen between the drivers and the passengers, in case they said something worth repeating to his boss, but the two young men actually remained silent for the entire ride. Probably, they were exhausted after their ordeal. Or maybe still awed over their transportation. Or cautious of their destination. Or maybe a little bit of all of the above.

Indeed, as the car stopped in front of Sion's building, the two boys looked both weary and wary at the same time and they had a short whispered conversation with their heads held close to each other's, a conversation that Kirishima was unable to overhear, but it was so brief he assumed it had not been of great importance.

The conversation had been as follows:

"I recognise this name, Sion," Kou had whispered to Takato.

"So do I. I think Akihito did one of his under cover job's here once. He told us a bit about it, didn't he?"

"Yes! That must be it. Maybe we will get some answers to all the questions we haven't been able to ask Akihito about directly lately."

"Yeah, I feel like a lot of unsolved mysteries about our best friend might reveal themselves to us in a moment," Takato concluded.

The questions were many; where was Akihito living? Why did he now and again show up with the remains of severe injuries showing? Who was the mysterious person who seemed to be bailing the reckless boy out of more than a few dangerous situations? Was it the same Asami who had had a key taped to Akihito's wall some time ago?

They quietly followed Kirishima as he showed them into the elevator and pressed the key for one of the top floors. As the elevator car ascended, their courage did the opposite, but they comforted themselves with the fact that at least they were together. Akihito, wherever he was, was all alone.

* * *

Yes, Akihito was alone. But not for as long as he would have liked. A door slamming and a pair of hands slowly clapping woke him from his Asami filled fantasy. He quickly spun around and almost as quickly wishing he hadn't since the sudden movement made his body remember the pain it was in. Only sheer will power made him remain on his feet as Eddie, still clapping, approached him.

"Wow, your handsomeness hass quickly diminished in the last hours," he smirked. That disgusting smirk. Akihito wanted nothing more than to rip it right off his face.

Eddie stopped a few yards from the boy and stood feet wide apart, his arms crossed across his chest, his grey eyes as hard as granite.

"Congratulations on your daring escape," he said with cold disdain. "Did you really think it would be that easy? And here I was thinking you actually had something worthwhile between your ears." He took a few more steps forward. Akihito half heartedly backed away from him a few inches. Not because he had any hope of escaping, but only to show that he still had som sort of dignity left. Not that he was sure that he actually did. Eddie reached the boy and with a surprisingly gentle kick placed in the side of one of his knees made Akihito kneel on the hard floor, trying to stifle a whimper.

"Let me tell you something." Eddie's hand was around Akihito's throat, his mouth next to the boy's head, spewing toxic air filled with malice into his ear. "You are alone. Asami will not find you here. I can do whatever I want with you and then throw you into the sea before I have every last trace of you removed from the cracks on the floors. You are mine, and you will learn to cooperate with me, or you will become ocean waste before you know it."

He let Akihito go, coughing and spitting on the floor.

"Follow me, boy. Crawl if you have to."

He spun on his heel and marched back to the door from where they both had come. Akihito, on all fours, followed.

Save your strength, Akihito, he murmured internally. Asami _will_ find you. He always finds you. Please, please, Asami, come find me.

* * *

(Author's note, again: Sorry about the short (and miserable) chapter, I'll try to get more action going soon. Once again, thank you all readers! The story is definitely on going, just not very quickly. And please let me know if you find errors in my language or continuity, no matter how small ^^)


	8. Chapter 8

(A/N: Wow, it really has been a while, hasn't it? Please forgive me for being the worst ever at updating this story, and thanks to all of you who are still following it!)

* * *

 **Chapter 8**

Eddie the Asshole led the way up another flight of stairs, with Akihito following after him, trying not to pant or whimper too loudly. After reaching the door at the top of the stairs Eddie stopped and waited patiently for Akihito to catch up, while holding the door open for him. In another context this would have seemed as a courtesy, but Akihito knew the man was taunting the state he had put the boy in mostly without having had to raise a finger by himself. This was accentuated by the sardonic smirk that kept growing bigger on his face for every step Akihito managed to drag himself over. Mustering his very last drop of strenght and defiance Akihito groped for the hand rail (which felt like it was miles above him) and slowly pulled himself up until he was finally standing on his own two feet again.

It felt like a great victory, like a sign that he had not yet been broken, for a momet Akihito felt like he could live through this after all.

At least until the Asshole started laughing so hard he had to clutch his stomach with the hand that was not holding the door.

"You should see the look on your face right now, Aki-chan", he wheezed. "It's so sad that you still seem to think that you somehow have the upper hand in this situation. I guess having a yakuza behind your back, quite literally I should think, will give you that impression."

He let Akihito go past him through the door, wich then slammed behind the both of them. They were once again facing a white corridor, this one with doors lining the walls like a cheap hostel or dorm. This was probably the cabins where Eddie and his crew slept, Akihito thought. Eddie opened the second door to the left and once again let Akihito enter before going in himself. The cabin was plain, with nothing but a simple metal bed with mint green sheets, a metal desk bolted to the floor with a wooden chair in front of it. On top of the desk was a laptop, one of the more expensive ones on the market Akihito noticed absent mindedly.

"Get in the bed, pretty boy," the large man commanded Akihito, who wondered if what he had just gone through had been the last drop in the process of making him lose his mind. In contrast to being almost drowned and completely beaten up being put to bed was definitely a completely different kind of treatment. Unless the Asshole had something suspicious in mind, something which Akihito had already experienced far too many times before.

This did not seem to be the case, however, since the first thing Eddie did was taping the boy's legs tightly together at the ankles, knees and thighs, as well as once again zip-tying his hands together over his head and around a sturdy, metal pole - a pipe maybe, this boat seemed to have plenty of them.

As uncomfortable as it was being tied up this way, the bed was still comfortable and warm and compared to the room in the lower lever floors this plain cabin seemed more comfortable than the hotel suite in which he was currently living with Asami.

Eddie seemed to be speaking on the phone, his cruel voice once again speaking that singing language. He then sat down at the desk and tapped away at the laptop, ignoring the tied up boy in the bed behind him.

That same tied up boy was instead left to contemplating his situation on his own once again.

So they were at sea, sailing further away from Asami every second. But why, though? What could possibly be the point in going away from their target? That much was obvious to Akihito now, it was not really him they were after but his lover. Akihito was only there as a (so far uncooperative) source of information, but why would they do with whatever information they recieved if their distance to Asami kept increasing?

How far away where they noy, anyway? For how long had they been sailing?

A knock on the door was then heard, followed by the sound of the door opening. Akihito turned his head and saw Beardie walk in carying a tray that seemed to contain a plate of food. Akihito's stomach suddenly growled very loudly, and he once again realized how hungry he was, hungry enough to not even care that the lack of steam probably meant that the food was cold. He was even close to nearly forgive Beardie for mutilating his precious hair. But only nearly.

Beardie exited the room after exchanging a few words with the Asshole. The latter then moved his chair so that he sat next to the bed with the tray in his lap. The plate on it contained a pile of something mashed and yellowish next to pieces of some small, grey fish pickled in onions. It didn't look bad at all, actually.

But how could he possibly accept food provided by his enemy? Most likely it contained some sort of poison or a drug that would make him talk. Those existed! Probably.

Akihito forced his lips shut as Eddie tried to offer him a forkful of mash and fish. The food spilled on the sheet and Eddie gave Akihito a slap. A rather light one, though.

"Don't be a brat and eat what is offered to you," he chastised Akihito. "Your strength must be just about gone, we've kept you busy here for over twenty four hours after all." He smiled at the devastated expression that crept across the boy's face. They must be so far out at sea, and still going farther.

 _Asami. Where are you? Are you looking for me?_

Eddie put down the fork and picked up the spilled food with the fingers of one of his hands. The other hand forced Akihito's mouth open and the food was pushed past his lips by those dirty fingers. Akihito felt like throwing up again, but couldn't stop the force feeding but eventually swallowed several mouthfuls of cold but still edible food. The unforeseen bout of nutrition gave him a slight stomachache, but he still felt some of his strenght returning along with the nausea.

Satisfied that Akihito had eaten enough Eddie the Asshole put away the tray and wiped his hands on his trousers. Without another word he then placed a piece of duct tape over Akihito's mouth and, completely unexpectedly, climbed into the bed.

He soon started snoring very loudly next to the increasingly confused boy.

* * *

(A/N: I can't believe I keep getting such wonderful reviews, which at the moment I don't feel like I deserve. Thank you all so much! I hope my wiriting style hasn't changed too much, please do tell me if some things seem like they don't connect with the old chapters.)


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

The secretary led the two younger men through the corridors of Sion. The walls were sparsely but tastefully decorated with paintings, both traditional Japanese art and more modern and international pieces as well as the occasional flower arrangement. All of it looked insanely expensive, the boys thought. At the end of the corridor, by what must be the corner office on the top floor, Kirishima stopped in front of the door and rapped the door, hard and efficiently, four times.

"Enter," a deep voice sounded from inside the office. The voice was somehow both calming and intimidating, as if the owner of it was a person who would pet you gently on your head with one hand while brutally stangling you with the other.

Kou and Takato entered the room with their heads bowed. It kind of seemed like the way to go.

"Raise your heads," the deep voice said, and Kou (who was a bit slower at following the command) heard a slight tremble with Takato's intake of breath. He then felt a sharp jab in his side as his friend hit him with his elbow in an effort to make him obey as well. So he did.

The man stood with his back towards them, facing the window. Outside darkness had started to creep in over the skyline, and the glass was almost a mirror in which the man's eerily handsome features were reflected. His face was dark with fury. His gaze rested on the two boys.

"You are Akihito's friends?" he asked them.

"H-hai, sir," Takato answered. "A-a-and may we ask your name and as to who you are to our friend... that is, what is your interest in Akihito?"

Kou marvelled at his friend's courage.

The shape of the man's mouth changed slightly, leaving the chiseled face with a hardly visible smirk. He finally turned around, scrutinized them for what felt like ten minutes, then sat down behind his desk. He leaned forward over his firmly clasped hands, drilling his eyes into theirs.

"My name, as you have probably heard on your way up here, is Asami Ryuuichi. You can call me Asami-sama or stick with sir. As to my relationship with Akihito, let's just say I enjoy his meals on a daily basis and will be greatly distressed if my cook is not returned to me swiftly."

A stiffled cough came from the corner where Kirishima the secretary was standing. Apparently he was not altogether on board with this explanation.

"Now," Asami continued while leaning back in his chair and buttoning up his tailored suit jacket, "tell me all you remember from the moment you parted with Akihito to the second you followed Kirishima into the car."

No matter how strange the situation Takato and Kou both had the feeling that this was not a man you disobeyed without consequences. So they started talking.

* * *

"Where is Eddie?" the man Akihito had mentally nicknamned Blondie asked his companion in the ship's contol room. He spoke in their foreign language, which had sounded so alien to the captured boy.

"He's taking a nap with the prisoner," one of the men grinned. He was in charge of surveillance and was keeping tabs on all the monitors showing the different rooms of the ship.

"What? Don't tell me he's started to get off on men now?" Blondie said incredulously and with a slightly digusted face.

"Well," the monitor man said, "I wish that at some point you would actually join us in the twenty first century and stop being such an arseholed bigot, but no, he has not. I mean he is actually taking a nap with the prisoner," he repeated and nodded to one of the screens in which the boss's cabin was visible.

Blondie gave up a snort as he finally laid eyes on the weird scene.

Eddie was indeed sleeping soundly in his bed, using the tied up boy as some sort of body pillow. Akihito was securely fastened to the pipe on the wall behind the bedpost and could not move an inch or make a sound, due to the tape over his mouth. But it was quite clear that the boy had not been able to sleep a wink in that awkward position, his eyes were winde open and the fear and confusion on his battered face was actually quite laughable, Blondie thought to himself.

"Anyway," the monitor man continued, "if he really was to have a taste of that, would you blame him?" He grinned again, lecherously this time.

"You make me sick, Karl," Blondie said and gave his colleague a hard slap on the back of his head.

The monitor man named Karl laugued loudly and after a while Blondie joined in.

"Anyway, let's call up the others," he said after the laugter had faded away. "It's time to wake up the boss and continue the interrogation."

* * *

"Look, we want to find Akihito as much as anyone, but what do you think you can do that the police can't?" Kou said after having gone over their experience for the third time. Asami had already made a call to dispatch his men to search for the warehouse where they had woken up, but continued to make them repeat their story. Takato nodded absent mindedly. He could not for the life of him put the pieces of this upside down puzzle together. The man was obviously very fond of Akihito as well as well connected and powerful, but what could he possibly contribute to the search unless...

"Wait, do you by chance know something, Asami-sama, sir?" he asked, hoping he would not insult the terrifyingly well dressed man.

Asami did not answer for a while. Then his lips parted slightly, but before a sound could escape them his phone started to buzz angrily.

He picked it up at lightning speed, and listened to the report from the other end of the line. Without uttering a word he then hung up, put the phone in his breast pocket and stood up while opening a drawer on his desk and picking up a gun (Kou and Takato gave a simultaneous gulp), which he holstered under his armpit with more ease than with which Kou put on socks in the morning. It was a practiced and precise move.

"Kirishima," he said curtly. "Make sure these two get home safely. Place them under surveillance for the time being, and have the car brought to the door for me."

"Wait, surveillance?" Kou and Takato asked indignantly. Did he suspect they had anything to do with what had happened?

Asami strode past them, and at first they thought they were not going to get an answer. But then, just before exiting the door he said, "It's for your protection, in case those who did this come back for you. Akihito would probably be very upset if something happened to his friends."

He then exited the room, muttering something that sounded like "How did I end up taking care of all these stupid brats?"

Kirishima left instructions with two stone-faced men who had been posted outside the office for the entire hearing. He then hurried after his boss while talking on the phone. They heard something about "bring out the fastest car" and "we need at least five men" before he was out of earshot.

Kou looked at Takato. "Do you have any idea about what just happened in there? Who the hell is this guy and why is he so obsessed with Akihito's cooking? He's not even that good of a cook. I mean, he's not bad but the food is not worth that much trouble." Takato sighed.

"Akihito obviously means something to the man, you dummy. And I have a feeling he might somehow be involved in this mess."

"You think so? Well, anything that brings Akihito home safely and quickly is fine with me."

Takato nodded in agreement.

* * *

On the phone a short while earlier Asami's subordinate had said something about finding a pile of boxes with a logo that the boss might recognize and proposed that he send a photo of them to the boss's smartphone. Asami however, had hung up and been on his way. This was something he'd rather do in person.

The cars came to a stop outside the warehouse by the harbour. A few of the men went in in advance to reconvene with the men who had made the discovery and had been ordered to wait inside and make sure the building was secure, but Asami was not far behind. Any lead, no matter how small, that would lead him to his precious boy's return was something he had to see for himself as soon as possible.

As soon as the crime lord stepped inside the large building his men respectfully ushered him towards the boxes. Asami froze as soon as he saw the emblem on the wooden sides. It was a red snowflake. The paint used to form it had started to drip in one place, making it look like it was drawn with blood.

He knew this sign. He had seen it before, a long time ago. Long before he had even laid eyes on the beautiful photographer and lured him into his life and his bed. But somehow, he could not remember from where.

A memory flickered somewhere deep inside his mind. A memory of whiteness and cold, a snowstorm, a roaring fire and the metallic taste of blood in the air.

A memory of a promise. A promise of revenge.

* * *

A/N: As always, thank you for reading and reviewing. Please know that every review means the world to me, and I will try to become better at responding to your comments. I would not have the confidence to continue writing if it were not for you all, so all my love to you guys! Also, sorry for possible continuous misrepresentations of Japanese customs and geography since I don't really have any first hand knowledge of this.


	10. Chapter 10

_A/N: I will not even make any excuses any more. I am a slow updater, and I am sorry for that. Thanks to all of you who have stuck with the story anyway. I promise to keep updating, even if it isn't very often, for as long as you are willing to stick around and wait for the next chapters. Thanks again!_

* * *

 **Chapter 10**

 _Please God make it stop... I can't anymore... It's too much and it hurts and please, please make it stop please God I'll do anything - no junk food and no sex and I'll start donating to at least eight differens charities if only this pain will stop... Please..._

Akihito had been standing for hours, naked, hands above his head, chained to the ceiling. Everything hurt. His feet and legs were constantly either cramping or on fire from muscular exhaustion, and also still hurting from the recent kickings. His back stung enough to make his eyes water, due to more recent injuries. His arms hurt from being trussed up for so long. But all those were physical pains he knew would subside eventually. What made him feel even worse was his raw throat and throbbing head. The physical and mental exertions, lack of sleep and the gushes of cold water that had been poured down his throat and possibly into his lungs in the previous room of hurt had probably made him sick as well. A fever most likely, pneumonia or something like it if he was really unlucky.

Or lucky, depending on how you looked at things. Maybe he had pneumonia and maybe it could kill him before Eddie the Asshole and his crew would get back into this room again for a whole new bout of questions and punishments.

He really felt like just giving up and kicking the bucket right now. The fog that had seeped into his head due to his possible fever was actually sort of a blessing. It made it harder to think about how desperate his situation really was.

And no. Akihito had decided he did not want to die just yet and he was determined to stand by that decision.

Not before he could see Asami's eyes again. Not before he could feel that comforting heat searing from his naked body and absorb it with his own skin.

* * *

Kirishima held the door open for his boss as he approached the car, and then carefullt shut it as soon as the crime lord had stepped inside the vehicle. For once Asami wished his secretary would not behave so immaculately, since he was in the mood to slam the door behind himself hard enough to shatter the windows. The rage that was building up inside him was worse than anything he had ever felt in his life, it was a hundred times more intense than what he had felt the last time Akihito had been taken from him. That time he had gotten some release from the bullet wounds inflicted on him, the pain had helped spur him on. Also, that time he had known exactly where the boy was and been able to formulate a plan as to how to get him home to Japan and to his bed.

This time he was at a complete loss.

His contact at the police station was no help, the police had no clues to follow up on since their two witnesses had been spirited away. Asami himself was positive that Akihito's friends had nothing more to give, and the only thing he himself had to go on was the label on the box, that red snowflake.

Which he had no idea as to where he had recognized it from.

It was driving him crazy, even though he could not show it on the outside. He would allow his men, as well as his enemies, yo see the anger - the red hot fury that he felt - but never the desperation, never the obsessive thoughts of revenge and torture that occupied his dark mind.

Never the fear.

* * *

They had stormed into the room where Akihito had been tied to the bed, with Eddie sleeping as good as on top of him. Had he not been gagged he would have puked. Eddie had been woken up by the intrusion, sat up in the bed and shaken his head slighly. Then he had looked down on the boy.

"Thanks for the nap, sweetie," he had said ironically and had sort of stroked the side of Akihito's face, almost lovingly, with his rough palm. His index and middle finger had paused for a moment on Akihito's taped lips, softly, almost as if planting a kiss on a lover. Then he had playfully sqeezed the boy's nose and given a honking noise.

 _This fucker..._ Akihito had thought and turned his face as far away as possible as soon as Eddie's fingers had let go of him.

"Looks like he hasn't warmed up to me just yet. Can't se why."

Eddie had gotten up and started loosening the bonds on Akihito's hands, legs and feet.

For a few seconds Akihito had been free. No one had made to seize him, his arms and legs had been free and the door right in front of him had been open.

Open. Leading into a corridor. On the umpteenth floor. Of a ship. A gazillion sea miles away from Asami and from home. Akihito hadn't even tried to get up, as all the men in the room had very well know he would not. Beacause where the hell would he go even if he could get away from them?

No, Akihito's way of resisting had instead been refusing to move a muscle, forcing them to lift his limp body all the way back down into the basement.

Or whatever the basement of a ship was called. At the moment the photographer could not give less of a flying crap about proper shipping terminology.

Anyway, they had chained him to the ceiling, grilled him for a while about Asami and about the crime lord's business. Fortunately, Akihito did of course not know much about these sort of things, given how careful the yakuza usually was about keeping him in the dark as much as possible when it came to his day to day dealings with the underworld.

Unfortunately for the skin on Akihito's back, every question that had gone unanswered had resulted in a few lashes from a leather riding crop or something like it. Or a shower of cold, salty sea water from buckets on the floor. Hence the intense stinging.

The few questions he actually had managed to give some sort of an answer to had instead resulted in the magical gift of a few mouthfulls of fresh, delicious water that had tasted like nectar from the gods. If that stuff could even taste that good.

Then, before they had left for the time being, they had tied a cloth over his eyes to blind him and replaced the gag on his mouth. For the life of him he could not understand why - no one could possibly hear him scream, even if he had had the energy to do just so. And even if someone could, would anyone on this ship actually care? In no reasonable scenario could he imagine that there were innocent passengers on this ship. It was not like Fei Longs floating casino or anything of the sort. Most likely it was a cargo ship, transporting guns, drugs, trafficking victims or some other horrible shipment.

Akihito tried to stifle a cough that found its way up from deep down in his lungs. He wanted to spit, but of course that was impossible due to the tape over his mouth. Maybe that was its purpose, he thought feverishly.

Was it also the fever and his recent thoughts that made him hear the squeeking sound of the rusty door opening? It was done so softly, not at all in the impetuous way that Eddie's goons typically used to do it, buy slowly, carefully and quietly. So quietly that Akihito was not even sure that that was what he was hearing. He could not hear it close again, but instead something that sounded like really light feet getting closer.

The air in the room shifted ever so slightly as the person got closer to him.

He was sure now this was for real. He could hear the quick breathing, the whooshing of clothes as if from a skirt, smell the sweet tang of lemony perfrume or shampoo. A woman?

She was at his side now and gave a shushing noise while placing one hand over his already sealed mouth.

"Please be quiet, sir", she whispered in his ear. Akihito gave a muffled moan at the friendly sound, promting her to shush him again. "Quiet, or they'll know I'm here. The whole crew is asleep right now, but they could come back any minute and before they do we have to figure out a way to help you."


End file.
